Bookends

[Daniel Clairoux]

Clutching his cup of coffee, Danial gave a friendly wave to Stefan the librarian as he left the staff's corner and began wandering back to his office. The school was just starting back and everything was in full throttle. There were new students adjusting to school like, students starting their OWLs and NEWTs, and brand new prefects and head people who were trying to adapt to the knew responsibilities that that all came with. It was certainly a busy time for everyone involved, and Daniel was no different. He found himself patrolling more often and offering guidance here and there - as well as cleaning up some more emotional messes from that awful poltergeist. He wasn't sure if there could be anything done about the creature, but he really wished it would just leave some students alone.

Daniel paused when he saw a young student seemingly have a bit of an issue carrying all of her things. He didn't have his wand on him and so helping in that regard was out, but he was completely capable of asking her. He approached the young Slytherin with his cup in hand, tilting his head slightly at her. "Hello, my name's Dan. Do you want some help with all of those?" Regardless of her answer, he was putting down his coffee cup anyway.​

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[Lilyanna Hope]

Since coming back to Hogwarts, Lilyanna did not know how to feel anymore. She still had that feeling that she didn't quite belong there and would much rather go to another school where there were less annoying people who thought that they were better than her. She really did not miss Hogwarts at all during the holidays and she sometimes wondered how people like her sister managed to be so excited about it. The only thing Lilyanna rather enjoyed doing was spending time in the library and, despite the fact that it was only the beginning of the year and there wasn't really much to do until classes started, that's where Lilyanna was headed off to today. She walked confidently towards the library and began her search to find as many books as she could about muggles. She had been really interested in muggles since her first year when she found out that her only friend was a muggle-born and was determined to find out as much as she could about them so she didn't have to ask the large number of questions to him that were building up in her head. How did they cope without the magic? What handy inventions did they come up with to find their way around different things? The questions were never ending and Lilyanna only hoped that the library had enough books to answer all of them.

After a while of looking, Lilyanna had managed to collect herself 26 books from 4 different aisles and was attempting to make her way over to the nearest vacant table so she could begin reading them all. She piled them all up on the ground and tried to use her muscles to lift them into both of her arms so she could take them over. Unfortunately, they were much too heavy for her and whenever she finally managed to stand up straight with them she just couldn't and the books came tumbling down, making Lilyanna have to make another pile so she could try again. She was just about to consider doing it another way when a man Lilyanna had never seen before approached her, introduced himself as Daniel and asked if she needed help. She obviously did but Lilyanna was not going to let the man touch any of the books. Instead, she gave him a dirty look. "I can do it myself." she sneered, picking up 3 books at a time from the pile and taking them over to the nearest table. She came back and forth from the pile and the table and kept a watchful eye on the man to make sure he didn't take any. When she was finally done she counted all of her books again to make sure he hadn't stolen any and sat down, opening up the first book about muggle artefacts.

 

[Daniel Clairoux]

That certainly was a lot of books for such a young person to be carrying, especially since she was so slight. He had heard her dropping them a few times, so it was pointless to pretend she didn't need his help. He was in the library, and he was at the school to help (though his job description didn't quite have 'book carrier' in it, it mattered not). He wasn't sure if she would say yes to his offer, but he didn't quite expect her response to be as rude as it had seemed. His eyebrow rose as he watched her go about her work, taking much longer than was necessary to load the books as a direct result of her stubbornness. Once she was done, he was slightly amused at how she kept watching him like he was going to take all the books and horde them somewhere. He thought the reading was important, but he wasn't much of a reader, himself.

He swiped his coffee from the table and sat down on the other side of her table. Giving her a smile, he took a silent sip before balancing the cup on his pinkie. "Uses of Muggle Artefacts," he read, tilting his head at the title in her hand. "You taking Muggle Studies?" he asked, though he wasn't sure if she looked old enough to be doing so - but some children's ages were deceiving.​

 

[Lilyanna Hope]

The presence of the man was beginning to become slightly irritating, even as he just sat there sipping at his coffee. Lilyanna wondered if he would eventually go away if she just ignored him as she read about the typewriter and how it has evolved into something called a computer, which was a mysterious device that was able to hold tonnes of memory of electronic files. When the man spoke, Lilyanna's eyes stopped scanning the page. "No." she said simply, before continuing along the page again. Why was he being so nosy? What was his job anyway? Was he a professor that liked being called by his first name or was he a seventh year who looked much older than what he was? There were many questions about him lingering in Lilyanna's head but she tried to push them to the back of her mind as she continued to read.

 

[Daniel Clairoux]

Daniel shrugged as she seemed none-responsive, and made himself comfortable. There was no sense in trying to force her to talk if she did not want to, and so he gave up for now, as there were other ways to get to know someone. Armed with a good cup of coffee, he could sit here quite happily all day. There was some sunlight streaming into the window to keep him warm, and the library was decently ventilated, and had an almost endless amount of biscuits in the back rooms he could grab should he get peckish. But even sipping his coffee could become tedious, so he decided to grab himself one of the numerous books from the table to begin reading it to help pass the time.
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[Lilyanna Hope]

After eventually finishing the book she was reading, Lilyanna reached for another book before realising that it had been stolen by the man. She paused for a moment with a disgusted look on her face before opening her mouth. "That's mine!" she exclaimed angrily, gesturing towards the book he was reading. "Why are you reading a school textbook? Do you go to school? Do you really need to know what's in that book?" Her tone was forceful, but yet demanding, and all Lilyanna had her eyes on were the book that was being touched with the man's hot fingers for no reason. He was annoying her on purpose now and there was nothing Lilyanna could do but get angry over it in hopes that he would give it back.

 

[Daniel Clairoux]

It certainly garnered a reaction, which was along the lines of what he was looking for. Some kids became abnormally attached to things that weren't theirs (such as public library books), even if they were in their possession for all of two minutes. He took note anyway, and closed it to give her his full attention. "It's a public book, borrowed from the library. It is not yours, nor mine to own," he explained gently. "As for reading it... why not? You can learn all kinds of things by reading a book - even if you feel you know the source material like the back of your hand. We can't all really understand everything - but reading someone else's opinion on a topic is a good start. Now, if you'd excuse me, I'd like a little bit of quiet to read." With that, he pointedly began to read the book once again.​

 

[Lilyanna Hope]

Lilyanna nodded at Daniel's statement about the library book being the library's and neither of theirs to own. She wanted to apologise but she didn't know how and simply continued listening to what the man had to say. He did have a point but Lilyanna was not going to admit that to him, and so she just continued reading too, until after a while she had finished it and had read it all word for word. Without intending to read another book, she stood up and collected them all one by one and put them neatly back into the bookshelves exactly where she had retrieved them. Lilyanna then picked up the rest of her belongings and left the library, leaving Daniel reading the last book at the table by himself.